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Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Part 5

Happy Comic Con Week! Only a few more days until Comic Con!
In the meantime, I’ve got another installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Next one after this is Guardians of the Galaxy and some more Agents of SHIELD.

Steve and Natasha found themselves on the run from their
"friends" in the fall of SHIELD during "The Winter Soldier".

Captain America: The
Winter Soldier

Two years after The
Battle of New York, Steve Rogers meets Sam Wilson, before leaving with Black Widow
for a mission. They rescue a bunch of SHIELD agents from a hijacked boat,
including Agent Sitwell. Back in DC, Fury shows Rogers three helicarriers,
Project Insight, that will take out SHIELD’s enemies preemptively. Rogers
visits Peggy Carter. Meanwhile, Fury runs into some problems, leading him to
delay Project Insight. Later, on his way to meet Agent Hill, Fury gets attacked
on the road and a mysterious masked man attempts to kill him. He escapes to
Cap’s apartment and inconspicuously tells him that SHIELD has been compromised
and hands off a mysterious USB drive. Fury gets shot and Cap’s neighbor bursts
in, revealing herself to be Agent 13 (Sharon Carter).

Later, Pierce questions Rogers about Fury’s death. On his
way from the interview, Cap is attacked by an elevator full of SHIELD agents,
including Rumlow, but he’s able to take them all down and escape the building. Cap
reluctantly teams up with Black Widow, who tells him about the masked man,
known as the Winter Soldier. They discover that they need to take Fury’s USB
drive to Cap’s old military training ground, where a digitized Zola tells them
that Hydra is inside of SHIELD. They barely survive an explosion and look to
Sam for help.

The three get information about Project Insight out of Agent
Sitwell, who the Winter Soldier kills. Cap rips off Winter Soldier’s mask,
discovering that it’s a brainwashed Bucky. The trio escapes Hydra with the help
of Agent Hill, who takes them to a secret facility where they discover that
Fury is alive. Captain America and Sam Wilson (The Falcon) break into SHIELD
agents that Hydra exists in their ranks. A fight ensues as the Hydra agents
(including Rumlow) launch the helicarriers. Black Widow, who snuck into the
World Security Council, dumps SHIELD and Hydra’s secrets to the public, while
Cap and Falcon disable the helicarriers. Amidst it all, Cap fights the Winter
Soldier, trying to save his friend. After the fighting is over, Steve and Sam
go looking for Bucky. Meanwhile, Strucker of Hydra continues experiments on two
teenagers.

Random Trivia/Connections:

In “End
of the Beginning”, Agent Sitwell leaves for another mission, which leads
him to the hijacked boat at the beginning of this movie.

Action packed and character building. This is what I like
about Marvel movies. This episode has a wonderful lead in to Cap’s search for
Bucky, which leads us into Civil War. It also changes the setting for the
Marvel Cinematic Universe, making these super heroes and Avengers the authority
instead of an agency like SHIELD. I also really like how it showcased Captain
America’s humanity, as he is willing to do whatever it takes, even dying, to
save his friend from the brainwashing.

It was impossible to know who to trust in "Turn, Turn, Turn".

Agents of SHIELD:
Season 1 (Episodes 17-22)

The SHIELD team continues their mission, starting with the
fall of SHIELD and leading into the aftermath of the organization falling in
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and how it would rebuild itself from the
ground up.

17. Turn, Turn, Turn:
The confrontation between May, Skye, Coulsen, and Fitz resolves with May
unconscious and Garrett joining them. The plane evades SHIELD while Skye
discovers that Hydra is inside SHIELD. Hand confronts Simmons and Trip,
confirming that they’re not Hydra agents. Coulsen pieces together that Garrett
is the clairvoyant. Hand rescues Coulsen’s team from Garrett. They hear of
Captain America taking down Hydra in DC. While escorting Garrett to
containment, Ward betrays and kills Hand, releasing Garrett.

18. Providence:
Ward and Garrett break Raina out of SHIELD prison. Coulsen and his remaining
team follow a signal to an unknown location in the Arctic. Garrett and Ward
raid the Fridge for 0-8-4s. Coulsen’s team uncovers the Providence SHIELD base
and Agent Eric Koenig. Ward is sent to get access to Skye’s USB drive of SHIELD
secrets.

19. The Only Light in
the Darkness: Ward lies to the SHIELD team about what happened at the Fridge.
Koenig interrogates each agent. Coulsen tracks down Marcus Daniels, who is
stalking his former love interest. May leaves Providence. After finding Koenig
killed, Skye pieces together that Ward is Hydra. After apprehending Daniels,
Coulsen, Trip, Fitz, and Simmons head back to Providence, but not before Ward
leaves with Skye. Meanwhile, May gets information on Hill from her mother.

20. Nothing Personal:
May confronts Maria Hill. Coulsen, Fitz, Trip, and Simmons return to
Providence to find Skye and Ward gone and they find Skye’s message that Ward is
Hydra. General Talbot invades the base with Hill’s help. After convincing Hill
of continued danger, she helps Coulsen’s team escape to rescue Skye. In Los
Angeles, Skye stalls for time, but her plan is thwarted when Deathlok appears.
Deathlok blackmails Skye into cooperating. Coulsen sneaks onto the plan as they
take off and he rescues Skye in Lola, his flying car.

21. Ragtag: In a
flashback, Garrett recruits Ward to Hydra. In the present, Coulsen’s team infiltrates
Cybertek to plant a Trojan Horse virus. Coulsen and May steal Cybertek’s
hardcopy records, discovering that Garrett was the first Deathlok subject.
Coulsen, May, Trip, and Skye infiltrate the Cuban Hydra base, while Ward
hijacks the Bus with Fitz and Simmons on board. Ward dumps Fitz and Simmons off
the Bus over the ocean. Meanwhile, Raina uses the GH-325 Serum to save Garrett.

22. Beginning of the
End: Garrett begins carving something into the wall. Fitz and Simmons awake
at the bottom of the sea. May and Skye infiltrate Cybertek and try to blackmail
Garrett and Ward. Fitz and Simmons break out of their underwater prison and are
found by Fury. Ward confronts Skye and is taken down by May. Meanwhile, Coulsen
and Fury take on Garrett. With Ward and Garrett taken care of, Fury gives
Coulsen the tools to be the director of SHIELD, building it back up. Later,
Raina meets a man who appears to be Skye’s father. Meanwhile, Coulsen begins
carving on the wall.

In "Ragtag", Coulsen and May found it hard to hack
Cybertek for obvious reasons.

Items and people from previous SHIELD missions are seen at
the Fridge, including the Berserker Staff from “The
Well”.

Trip states that he’s the grandson of one of the Howling
Commandos, from “The
First Avenger”.

Simmons references Doctor Who,
mentioning that she’d want the TARDIS on a desert island, while being
interrogated by Koenig in “The Only Light in the Darkness”.

Pepper Potts and Tony Stark are mentioned, as Maria Hill’s
new employers.

Thoughts:

I know several people who have criticized Agents of SHIELD
because it was hard to get into. Granted, I started watching Agents of SHIELD
over a grave shift, so it only took me two weeks to get through seasons one and
two, but this is the point when it really gets good. Instead of being an
episode to episode, CSI type story, it becomes an overarching story that begins
to draw in other parts of the Marvel Universe, including the Kree, Asgardians,
and (in season 2) the Inhumans. Before this point it was like Agents of SHIELD
was picking up the scraps of the Marvel movies with Extremis and Asgardian
relics, but beginning here and moving on into season 2 the SHIELD team begins
to delve into things of their own.